Location: Shenzhen, China.

Architect: Studio Link-Arc.

The Nanshan Foreign Language School in Shenzhen, China, is a 54,000 m² campus that includes regular and specialized classrooms, a library, gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, auditorium, dormitory, dining halls, and playgrounds. The campus is designed as a low-rise linear hybrid of closed, semi-enclosed, and green, open spaces that break the distinction between building and open space. The design uses the natural slope of the site to top the large program volumes with a series of terraced platforms, which become a new ground for dedicated teaching spaces and playgrounds. The classrooms are arranged in a three-story bar arrangement of staggered classrooms that sweep the site from east to west, chasing every available square inch of sunlight penetrating the surrounding concrete forest. The sinuous motion of classroom ribbons generates a fluid sequence of outdoor spaces tailored to the specific needs of each teaching area. The project intentionally breaks with conventional school design in favor of a sectional organization of spaces that maximizes access to green space and daylight for each classroom independent of their location. The design introduces a weather protective system formed by hangovers, shading boxes, and corrugated aluminum panels, based on a rigorous year-round solar radiance study.

Photo credit: Roland Halbe, Shengliang Su.